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Switches are most efficient (i.e., painful and durable) if made of a strong but flexible type of wood, such as hazel (also used for a very severe birch) or hickory; as the use of their names for disciplinary implements. It is indicated that birch and willow branches are time-honored favorites, but branches from most strong trees and large shrubs can be used also. Often found simply nearby from a garden, an orchard or from the wild. In the Southeastern United States, fresh-cut, flexible cane (Arundinaria) is commonly used. The usage of switches has been hotly contested in North America and Europe.[1]

Making a switch involves cutting it from the stem and removing twigs or directly attached leaves.[citation needed] For optimal flexibility, it is cut fresh shortly before use, rather than keeping it for re-use over time.[citation needed] Some parents decide to make the cutting of a switch an additional form of punishment for a child, by requiring the disobedient child to cut his/her own switch.[citation needed]

The tamarind switch (in Creole English tambran switch) is a judicial birch-like instrument for corporal punishment made from three tamarind rods, braided and oiled, used long after independence in the Caribbean Commonwealth island states of Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.[2]

The Gilbertese tribal community at Wagina in Choiseul province (Solomon Islands) reintroduced by referendum in 2005 traditional "whipping" with coconut tree branches for various offences - the national justice system opposes this.[3]

In the The Dukes of Hazzard episode "The Ghost of General Lee", when Jesse Duke thinks his nephews Bo and Luke faked their deaths, he yells at them "after all you've put me through, I oughtta take the switch to both of you".

In "Natural Born Kissers", an episode of The Simpsons, Grandpa Simpson (while babysitting Rod and Todd Flanders when he was supposed to babysit Bart and Lisa) says, "There you go with that smart mouth! Lisa, run outside and cut me a switch."

In the film The Harder They Come, the lead character, after assaulting another character, is punished with "eight strokes of the tamarind switch".[4]

In the Community episode "Basic Genealogy", Troy's grandmother asks for a switch with which to beat Britta.

In Spring Awakening, Wendla asks Melchior to hit her with a switch as a way to sympathize for Martha, who is abused by her father.

The song "Halftime", on the 1994 album Illmatic by New York rapper Nas features the line "my style switches like a faggot". While on the surface, this refers to the notion of a homosexual person changing sexual orientation, it plays on the idea of a switching with the ancient weapon, the faggot.